Golden Era legends

[Feraud]

I am not sure if we have a thread devoted to legends of the ol' days. UFOs, Big Footed creatures, spooks, fiends, etc.
Maybe this will generate some interest.

Everyone has heard about the alligators in NYC sewers. I actually know a guy who knew a guy who heard about someone who saw one once..
Read the story that started it all.

The New York Times
February 10, 1935
Page F29

ALLIGATOR FOUND IN UPTOWN SEWER

Youths Shoveling Snow Into Manhole See the Animal Churning in Icy Water

SNARE IT AND DRAG IT OUT

Reptile Slain by Rescuers When It Gets Vicious--Whence It Came Is Mystery


The youthful residents of East 123d Street, near the murky Harlem River, were having a rather grand time at dusk yesterday shoveling the last of the recent snow into a gaping manhole.
Salvatore Condulucci, 16 years old, of 419 East 123d Street, was assigned to the rim. His comrades would heap blackened slush near him, and he, carefully observing the sewer's capacity, would give the last fine flick to each mound.

Suddenly, there were signs of clogging ten feet below, where the manhole drop merged with the dark conduit leading to the river. Salvatore yelled: "Hey, you guys, wait a minute," and got down on his knees to see what was the trouble.

What he saw, in the thickening dusk, almost caused him to topple into the icy cavern. For the jagged surface of the ice blockade below was moving; and something black was breaking through. Salvatore's eyes widened; then he managed to leap to his feet and call his friends.

"Honest, it's an alligator!" he exploded.


Others Look and Are Convinced
There was a murmur of skepticism. Jimmy Mireno, 19, of 440 East 123d Street, shouldered his way to the rim and stared.

"He's right," he said.

Frank Lonzo, 18, of 1,743 Park Avenue, looked next. He also confirmed the spectre. Then there was a great crush about the opening in the middle of the street and heads were bent low around the aperture.

The animal apparently was threshing about in the ice, trying to get clear. When the first wave of awe had passed, the boys decided to help it out. A delegation was dispatched to the Lehigh Stove and Repair Shop at 441 East 123d Street.

"We want some clothes-line," demanded the delegation, and got it.

Young Condulucci, an expert on Western movies, fashioned a slip knot. With the others watching breathlessly, he dangled the noose into the sewer, and after several tantalizing near-catches, looped it about the 'gator's neck. The he pulled hard. There was a grating of rough leathery skin against jumbled ice. But the job was too much for one youth. The others grabbed the rope and all pulled.

Slowly, with its curving tail twisting weakly, the animal was dragged from the snow, ten feet through the dank cavern, and to the street, where it lay, non-committal; it was not in Florida, that was clear.

And therefore, when one of the boys sought to loosen the rope, the creature opened its jaws and snapped, not with the robust vigor of a healthy, well-sunned alligator, but with the fury of a sick, very badly treated one. The boys jumped back. Curiosity and sympathy turned to enmity.

"Let 'im have it!" the cry went up.


Rescuers Then Kill It
So the shovels that had been used to pile snow on the alligator's head were now to rain blows upon it. The 'gator's tail swished about a few last times. Its jaws clashed weakly. But it was in no mood for a real struggle after its icy incarceration. It died on the spot.

Triumphantly, but not without the inevitable reaction of sorrow, the boys took their victim to the Lehigh Stove and Repair Shop. There it was found to weigh 125 pounds; they said it measured seven and a half or eight feet. It became at once the greatest attraction the store ever had had. The whole neighborhood milled about, and finally, a call for the police reached a nearby station.

But there was little for the hurrying policemen to do. The strange visitor was quite dead; and no charge could be preferred against it or against its slayers. The neighbors were calmed with little trouble and speculation as to where the 'gator had come from was rife.

There are no pet shops in the vicinity; that theory was ruled out almost at once. Finally, the theories simmered down to that of a passing boat. Plainly, a steamer from the mysterious Everglades, or thereabouts, had been passing 123d Street, and the alligator had fallen overboard.

Shunning the hatefully cold water, it had swum toward shore and found only the entrance to the conduit. Then after another 150 yards through a torrent of melting snow--and by that time it was half dead--it had arrived under the open manhole.

Half-dead, yes, the neighborhood conceded. But still alive enough for a last splendid opening and snapping of its jaws. The boys were ready to swear to that.

At about 9 P. M., when tired mothers had succeeded in getting most of their alligator-conscious youngsters to bed, a Department of Sanitation truck rumbled up to the store and made off with the prize. Its destination was Barren Island and an incinerator.

http://www.sewergator.com/news/nyt19350210.htm

My favorite aspect of this tale is the encounter with a stranger/something different mentality. Inspect then kill it.

 

[dhermann1]

Somehow I find the combination of snow and alligators hard to believe. Any alligator in a frigid, not to mention icey, environment would be virtually camatose with dormancy. Makes a great yarn, tho!
Note the Italian names. This incident took place in a neighborhood in East Harlem that remained heavily Italian American up until almost the present day. It was this neighborhood who elected to congress probably the most left wing politician ever to walk those hallowed halls, Vito Marcantonio. Interesting man.
But getting back to the story, even tho it's in The Times, I'd like to see pictures to really believe it.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Interesting story. It's certainly written in a convincing fashion, although from my experience with lizards they don't last long at all in cold conditions. Good thing this reporter didn't get a hold of some old Arkansas bear hunter stories--he would have had the whole world believing that hunters here really used to hunt bears bare-foot in the middle of winter, hanging from tree branches when their feet got cold to warm them!lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

Never mind how the Times covered it, I'd want to see how it was covered in the News or the Mirror. I have a number of issues of the News from February 1935, but not that particular one -- and am very curious to see what they did with the story.

 

[Richard Warren]

The NYTimes? An unbelievable story? What else is new?

 

[Feraud]

The NYTimes? An unbelievable story? What else is new?

I knew when I posted this Times article you would be here to squirt some urine on it. Haven't you got a prince to whine about?

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Bronze sculpture by Tom Otterness in the 14th Street subway station on the A, C, E and L lines makes reference to the old legend of alligators in the sewers.

The legend of alligators in the sewers — discarded pets that have grown large in the bowels of the city.

 

[Stearmen]

Yeti

I was very sceptical about this article so I consulted with my good friend from Nepal, Mr. Yeti Sasquatch, he assured me after calling a couple of friends in Roswell, New Mexico, that this is absolutely true!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Reminds me of the story of Reggie the Gator. Reggie, a 7 foot alligator was released into Machado Lake at Kenneth Malloy Memorial Park in Harbor City, CA when he got too big to keep as a pet. For some two years he eluded numerous attempts to capture him. Even the late Steve Irwin was planning to take a stab at it. In 2007 Reggie was finally captured and is now at the L.A. Zoo. Strangely enough, at the time of Reggie's capture a smaller gator, dubbed Little Reggie, was found in a nearby storm drain!